


Spare Parts

by Moon_Blitz



Category: Another - Ayatsuji Yukito
Genre: Angst, F/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-01
Updated: 2014-08-01
Packaged: 2018-02-11 08:54:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2061879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moon_Blitz/pseuds/Moon_Blitz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A year later, and Mei is plunged back into the horror of Class 3-3. But this time, she's not alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spare Parts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Moontyger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moontyger/gifts).



 

Spare Parts

  
“It started again,” Teshigawara said as he slid into the empty chair across from Mei. They had agreed to meet at a local cafe after school, and she had just happened to arrive first.  
  
She curled her fingers around her tea mug, watching the steam rise. “I know.” Scaffolding had collapsed on a student walking home from school yesterday, although the workers involved swore that everything had been connected properly. News of the death had spread fast through Yomiyama, and there were already questions being asked about what the class had done to prevent the calamity from returning in the first place.  
  
“After...After last year, I had hoped it might skip a year,” Teshigawara said slowly, and she saw that his hands were balled into fists on the table.  
  
“I don’t think deaths weren’t in vain,” Mei replied just as slowly, knowing the pain he was going through. She still thought about her lost classmates, and frequently visited their graves. “In the end, Kazami's death helped us figure out who the extra was, and we stopped it.”  
  
“Yeah, but he and the others still died before we solved it.” He frowned, then sighed and tried to smile. “I’m sorry. I’m just having a bad day, what with the news and all.”  
  
“It’s alright.” Everyone who survived last year was probably feeling a range of emotions – she certainly was, although she tried not to show it. They had lost too many friends to not feel something. “Have you contacted Kouichi yet?”  
  
“Sakaki? No, not yet. I’m going to e-mail him tonight. Unless you want to...? I mean, you kept in touch too, right?”  
  
“Yes, we did.” She took a sip of her tea, thinking back to her last conversation with Kouichi. It had nearly been two weeks since then, and he had told about what high school was like in Tokyo and how his he missed his grandmother’s cooking. He had been close to several people who had died last year, and so she had a feeling he wouldn’t take the news of the calamity’s return well. “I’ll tell him,” she said, deciding that it would be better if he heard it from her first.  
  
“’Kay. I’ll wait until the morning to e-mail him.” He leaned back and stretched, the familiar smile he used to always wear re-appearing. “Anyway, how have your classes been? I can’t believe the amount of homework I’m getting now!”

\- - -

  
_“Hello?”_ Kouichi sounded tired as he answered the phone, and she inwardly sighed, knowing that his night was about to get a lot worse.

“Good evening, Kouichi. It’s Mei.”

 _“Mei!”_ His voice brightened, and she imagined him smiling. _“Hold on a minute, the reception here isn’t very good...”_

“Ok.” As she waited, she wondered if the calamity was causing the problems, or if it was something on his end.

_“There, that’s better. How have things been in Yomiyama?”_

“Quiet, until yesterday.” Mei paused and shifted on her bed. “It’s back. A student died in a horrible accident yesterday afternoon.”

She heard him suck his breath in at that, and waited patiently through the ensuing silence. Finally, he spoke, his voice quiet. _“I was wondering if it was going to return this year. I guess whatever the class did didn’t work...”_

“No. Do you remember how we stopped it last year?” She did, but dimly, as if the event had occurred many years past instead of only eight months ago.

 _“Yeah, mostly. Um...‘sending the dead back to death’, right?”_ He sounded hesitant, but she smiled at his words.

“Right. That’s what Teshigawara and I remember as well.” Having the confirmation that her memory, at least in that regard, was correct made the situation seem a little less hopeless than it had been.

_“Then the others probably remember it as well. Or maybe not, since they weren’t active in investigating things as we were. Have you spoken to Chibiki-sensei yet?”_

“Not yet. I’m thinking of doing so tomorrow after school. But Kouichi...” She stopped, unsure if she should ask him something.

 _“What is it, Mei?”_ Kouichi sounded slightly concerned at her silence, and that told her everything she needed to know.

“I could help them stop it if I used my eye, like I did last year,” she said slowly, feeling her heart beat faster at the idea. She couldn’t remember who they extra had been, but she did remember the blood. So much blood. And the screams for mercy, which haunted her nightmares still.

 _“Yes, you could,”_ he replied carefully, obviously thinking hard about the situation. _“But I don’t think it’s a good idea, at least not yet. You should let the class deal with this by themselves first, and then step in if they start asking for help.”_

She nodded, hearing the truth in his words. “Thanks, Kouichi. I’ll keep you informed on everything.”

He laughed softly, and she sensed that he was smiling again. _“Thanks for letting me know, Mei. Between you and Teshigawara, I won’t miss a thing. Goodnight.”_

“Goodnight. Stay safe.” She blinked, surprised at herself. Tokyo was a dangerous place, but she wasn’t usually so sentimental.

He laughed again and said, _“I will. Stay safe too.”_

As she ended the call, she looked up at the ceiling and smiled. They were both was safe from the calamity, and she was certain they would support each other through this.

\- - -

  
Teshigawara slung his bag over his shoulder as they walked out of the school gates. “Two more deaths this week. This really sucks.”

“Two? Someone else died?” Hearing the bitterness in his voice, she looked over at him.

“Yeah, it happened late last night. One of my classmates has a cousin in Class 3, and he heard it from them. Apparently it was the sister of someone in the class.”

“That makes it four deaths so far – one classmate and three relatives,” she said softly, feeling the weight of those deaths settle on her shoulders.

“Damnit, I wish there was something we can do! We know how to stop it, but we’re completely helpless!” he snarled, his loud voice causing the students in front of them to look back in surprise. She stared at the ground, knowing that there was something she could do.

“Chibiki said he had told them everything he knew on the first day of classes, so they do know how to stop it.” Mei paused, considering something that had been bothering her. “I’m surprised we remember so much. All the previous classes seem to have forgotten much more.”

“Yeah, it is odd. Maybe it’s because of what happened at the inn? I mean, so many people died at once in so many different ways...you can't just chalk that up to being a giant accident, can you? Maybe it left such an impression on everyone that we simply can’t forget it.”

Mei nodded silently, remembering all those who had died that night. Another catastrophe like that would be almost unthinkable, but at the same time the way they had ended things last year lingered in the back of her mind, a permanent shadow that she tried to ignore.

Either oblivious to her silence or wanting to fill the void, Teshigawara kept talking. “Still, I’m happy that we remember the important things, and that Class 3 has the information they need to fight this thing. If there was just some easy way to figure out who the extra person was, we’d be all set.”

“But that would still result in someone dying, even if they were dead before. If Kazami came back, and you somehow remembered your friendship, could you simply watch him die again?” Mei asked pointedly, and Teshigawara stopped walking. Turning to face him, she saw that he had gone pale.

“I...I don’t know. I mean, if it was to stop others from dying, than yeah, I’d want to do something...” he trailed off and swallowed hard. “Man, you really ask the tough questions, don’t you?”

“Someone has to,” she said quietly, falling into step beside him and he started walking again. “Chibiki asked me to talk to him today. Want to come?”

“Um, yeah, sure. How come?”

“We know how we can find out who the extra is.”

\- - -

  
_“Takabayashi is the extra?”_

“Yes,” Mei confirmed, staring at the photo in her lap. With advice from Chibaki, the class had agreed to take a class photo before anyone else died, and this was the photo she was looking at now. A dark aura hovered around one student, and she knew from past experience what that meant. She still didn’t quite believe that she had decided to do this, but Chibiki had agreed that this was probably the only way to find out.

 _“I remember him,”_ Kouichi said, sounding stunned. _“It is because I’m outside of Yomiyama?”_

“Probably. If you heard me clearly, it almost means that the calamity can’t affect outgoing phone calls.”

 _“But it can affect incoming ones, and calls within the community. Weird.”_ There was a pause, and then he asked, _“Teshigawara said in his last e-mail that a fifth person had died. Three in one month is unusual, isn’t it?”_

“I think so.” Her good eye shifted to look at the student who had died most recently, and she wondered if she could have prevented their death if she had acted sooner.

 _“It’s not your fault, Mei,"_ he said, as if reading her mind. _“If you have the picture, does it mean they’ve asked for help?”_

“Yes, they asked after the fourth person died. Chibiki didn’t want to involve me directly, so we had to wait while the photo was being developed.”

 _“And someone else died in the meantime.”_ He sighed, clearly upset as well. _“Are you going to tell Chibiki-sensei?”_

“Yes.” What else could she say? She desperately wanted this to end, and the longer she hesitated, the higher the chance someone else would die.

_“Even if it means becoming an executioner?”_

“What...What other choice do I have?” Realizing her voice was on the verge of breaking, she took a breath to calm herself. “If I don’t, more people will die.”

 _“Condemning someone to death shouldn’t be a decision you have to make!”_ Kouichi burst out, the anger in his voice making her wince. He wasn’t angry at her, she understood that clearly. _“What I did last year – killing them in cold blood – I never want you to go through that! Never!”_

He went silent suddenly, and she knew by his heavy breathing that he was struggling not to cry. “But you did it to save everyone else, right?” she asked, still staring at the picture. “That’s what I’m doing now. I’m saving them from what we went through.”

_“Who will actually kill Takabayashi, though?”_

“I don’t know,” Mei said honestly, knowing it was a question that had to be answered soon. “I’m going to talk to Chibiki Monday morning.”

 _“I see.”_ There was a pause, and then he said, _“I’m sorry I can’t be there with you, Mei...I’m going to try and visit this summer, though.”_

“Coming back even though you left two months ago?”

 _“Tokyo is nice, but it’s different than it was before. And I want to see everyone again. Teshigawara has be bugging me to come, too.”_ Mei smiled slightly at that, sensing the real reason behind his visit. _“I better go. Good luck with everything Mei, and stay safe.”_

 _“Thanks, Kouichi. Stay safe as well.”_ Somehow, that had become their standard way to end their calls, but she found herself liking it. It was a measure of comfort in the terrible situation she found herself in.

\- - -

  
They stood in front of the Sakakibara family grave in the summer heat, fingers loosely entwined. “I still can’t quite believe that it’s been two years since Reiko died,” Kouichi said softly. Mei just nodded, still feeling the pain from Misaki’s death. The calamity had scarred both of them deeply, and she knew that they would bear the wounds for years to come.

Letting go of her hand, Kouichi knelt and set down the bundle of flowers that he had brought before saying a short prayer. Rising, he turned at smiled at her. “Thanks for coming with me. You didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to.” After all that had happened the past few months, a quiet moment was just what she needed. As they walked away from the grave, their hands brushed, and he grabbed her fingers loosely.

“I think you would have liked Reiko. I didn’t know her all that well, but we always had fun the few times she came to Tokyo to visit.”

“She could have been our teacher, if she had lived,” she said slowly, and he nodded.

“How’s the teacher holding up? Teshigawara said the class went a little crazy when they heard that Takabayashi was the extra, and he got a broken arm trying to restrain them.”

“He’s doing well, as far as I know. I think he’s returning after summer break.” She had only met the man once during her final meeting with Chibiki, and he had seemed tired but eager to solve things.

“And the class...?” Kouichi looked worried, so she gave him a reassuring smile.

“Like us, they’ve forgotten that Takabayashi ever existed. As far as they know, he died last year.” Most of the students had been injured the afternoon they learned the news which probably helped, although somehow, no one died in the chaos.

Relief spread across his face. “Good. I’m a little relieved that that part of things remains the same. No one needs to remember that they forced someone to commit suicide.”

“No...” Mei stared down at the pathway, remembering the mixture of emotions she had felt when Chibiki had told her about Takayashi. Relief that it was over for this year, but also guilt over her role in his death and fear for the future. Would she have to do it again?

“Hey.” Kouichi squeezed her fingers gently, and she looked at him. “Whatever happens next year, or the year after, I’m here for you.”

“I know you are. Just don’t insist on coming from Tokyo every time something happens.” She tried to sound cold and distant like she had when they first met, but the smile on his face told her it wasn’t working.

“I’ll do my best not to,” he replied, and she smiled for the first time since everything ended. Whether or not the calamity returned next year, Kouichi was one more person she could rely on. She may become the executioner of Class 3-3, but he would make sure she didn’t lose sight of herself.


End file.
